Hello, first blog of many to keep you all posted on what’s been going on in my life up until the present times. I will try to keep them short and sweet and give you an insight as to what I’ve been doing training wise and racing.
Let’s go back to Christmas I Flew home from Majorca on the 19 th of December for a well earned rest period. I Attended the BBC sports personality which was just unbelievable sitting in a room with Roughly 10,000 people Who are so passionate about a sport as I am with cycling as you can see below me and Sean Delighted to be there. I always like to keep Christmas is family time and just like to chill as well as Treating myself with the usual calorie packed foods.
Into the New Year It was time to get the serious / race face back on again, after-it all Being annonced That I would ride for Velo Club Toucy for the 2016 as well as Being a supported rider by the Emerald Fund, a fund in which Dan Martin and a generous group of people to help young riders reach Their full potential. Training started of basic low intensity to get the body working Properly again before venturing on to a Slightly Heavier work load, this is probably the best winter I have in my legs Considering I have Went full time for this season and participated in the Track World Cups .
I Was getting the miles in on the well renound green machine showing up on one of the most unique bikes in the country would crack the local group riders-even before we rolled out of the square. The bike now has Become part of my DNA with a test every ride to see how far I can get without breaking down building character They Say. It’s safe to say I think it’s the last winter it will see for a while.
The weather at home During January Either can be one or the other out of nowhere as usual Could Be sun shining, there Could Be a drop of rain or the whole of NI has 5 inches of snow nobody can ever predict it. I have-been lucky enough to Spend MOST of the winter in Majorca out of the cold so I Could get effective training in. However I did have the odd day in the cold back home. When I near lost the back end on a training spin with the ice, as my brother Told Me That morning That by the time I got out of bed there will be no ice, I Took His advice bad mistake! I got of lightly with just a scare, Sean was full of cr * p as I went down the road from my house sideways. I came to think that I had got out of bed earlier than he would have thought or maybe the sun never got at this patch ice. Hmmm I’ll let you decide which one it was.
February 4 th It was time to get back to reality with the serious head flying back to Majorca. I came back got some solid road miles in With Some hard stuff on the Track Which would give me the race zip back pretty quick. It’s a great set up out in Majorca and people do not see the work we put in over there all riders literally eat, sleep ride hard and repeat. It’s a good environment for training as there are no distractions and the weather is always half decent at this time of the year. I Spent 3 weeks here competing in one track race which went pretty well for me it consisted of an elimination race and a points race to decide an overall.
The elimination is always a great race to watch as its shoulder to shoulder elbow to elbow and there’s guaranteed to be a crash or near miss. In this case There Was a crash and I Was bottom of the stack the two guys to my left were having a battle and before I knew it over the bars I Went. No injuries and back up in the saddle to pick up a nice 2 nd overall I was pretty happy with my condition for the start of the season. A trip to the medics to get cleaned and patched up sorted out me to continue racing in the points race. It was only 80laps which is half the distance to what normally I would ride so It was going to be fast and furious. I Went in with my normal tactic of having a relaxed start, Unfortunately this blew up in my face the 3-4 riders I needed to watch Had a lap before We had completed 3-laps period. This left me in a bad place, I continued in the race playing catch up wining 4 out of 8 sprints and picking up 46 points but still shy of the top 3 as they had all taken two laps and were consistent in each sprint. I fell shy of the podium by 1 point 2 points of 2 nd and 3 points of the top step. I was satisfied after-goal having really good legs in both races it was my tactical side that unfortunately let me down. These races are here to learn in making mistakes, the main thing was my morale and my condition was good to start my season and its always a positive.
It was now time to depart Majorca and make my way over to my team for 2016 Velo Club De Toucy. I am going on a week’s training camp to get to know the riders and bond as a team. I am very excited about starting my new adventure here in France and I am Delighted to be supported by the Emerald Fund in 2016.
Stay put for my next blog on my training camp and insight into The Beginning of my racing season.
See you soon
Salut
Mark.
Mark Downey blog 